


The Knight and Her Lady

by beyonces_fiancee



Series: The Knight and Her Lady [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Dom/sub Undertones, Erotic Subtext, F/F, Fealty, Historical Accuracy, Intimacy, Knights - Freeform, Longing, Ring Kissing, Romance, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 20:38:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6093370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyonces_fiancee/pseuds/beyonces_fiancee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The Lady's voice was stern in reply. "Hadst thou planned, then, on departing my camp without making thy adieus to me?"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"No, my lady," Pearl murmured, stricken. "I had not intended to leave so—if my lady doth not wish it of me to leave—"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The Lady Quartz laughed, suddenly gentle, as though she had expected a foolish reply such as this. "My Pearl," said she, raising her soft hand, "my own and fairest, and truest of my followers; thou wilt know anon what I wish of thee."</i>
</p><p>Medieval AU Pearlrose. Pearl is a knight and Rose is her general and liege-lady.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Knight and Her Lady

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Jinglebell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinglebell) for checking this out so quickly!

Rushes strewn across the floorstones could not soften the harsh sound of Pearl's step echoing from the high ceilings of the great hall. She was come by request of the Lady Quartz, and such an errand demanded that she waste no time. Already her duties had delayed her, those that were not the rightful task of squire or of page but could only be performed by Pearl's own work-hardened hands, knight though she was. But that was no excuse when summoned by the Lady.

As she crossed the hall toward her liege-lady, Pearl drew her sword and bore it hilt-up. Blood it had spilt in no small measure, and laid low in the dust many a foe; and glory it had brought to her name in garlands; but her will and her liege's were as one. How sharp the steel, how swift the blade, how proud the hand that gripped the haft, the target and the focus of that wrath were withal the Lady Quartz's to decide. Proper obeisance must then be paid. And so before her Pearl bore her sword, the badge of her valor, the mark of her sovereignty and her devotion, to the plinth on which the Lady was seated.

The Lady Quartz was enthroned in a high-backed chair at her writing-desk, drafting orders. Candles of delicate white wax burned about her. Her Ladyship was sumptuously dressed in a gown, cloak, and surcoat of rose-colored velvet stuff. The fine silk of her kirtle rustled with a soft sound as she shifted to dip her nib into the inkstand. She bore a great ring on the third finger of her right hand, carven of glassy-rosy stone, crested with her private seal in the shape of a blossoming rose.

Pearl stood in respectful silence, hands folded on hilt, as the Lady wrote. Her battle dress weighed heavy on her shoulders. Long hours of skirmish threatened to stoop her neck, and she longed for the embrace of her coverlet, but she drew herself more firmly upright for all that, to do honor to the audience she awaited. The warmth of the Lady's dress and mien made the chill in the hall seem less strong.

At last the Lady Quartz laid her quill aside, examined the fair copy one last time, and took a pinch of fine white sand to sprinkle over the drying ink. Only when all this had been completed did she turn her regard on Pearl, who stiffened to attention and straightened her face into noble impassivity. The Lady Quartz chuckled. "Well!" said she. "My champion cometh after all. Nigh too late to her lady's summons."

Pearl colored. The excuse of work was not sufficient to justify disobedience. "I did not wish to disturb you in your hour of repose, my lady."

"There can be no such hours when there is yet no peace. Perhaps, after the war…" The Lady Quartz's eyes took on a misty appearance. She shook her head slightly and turned her gaze again to face Pearl. As their eyes met, a warm smile crossed her face. "And thou hast news for me of today's combat?"

"Yes, my lady." Pearl delivered her report in her customary style, leaving out no detail that she considered the Lady Quartz might find to be of use. For while the Lady was indeed her liege and a noblewoman, and might be thought a dainty wilting flower for that, she was equally general of all their mighty army, and guided decisions of strategy and great flanking charges on the enemy alike with surpassing fortitude. Pearl as she spoke reflected, not for the first time, on her Ladyship's valor and strength, and how grateful she was on the battlefield for the protection of the Lady's massive rose-strewn shield.

As Pearl finished delivering her report, the Lady Quartz nodded in satisfaction. "And dost thou intend to lead my forces tomorrow in riding out to Clé-de-Voûte to provide such aid as can be given?"

"Yes, my lady." What joy there was in service, Pearl knew well.

But the Lady's voice was stern in reply. "And hadst thou planned, then, on departing my camp for a journey of some weeks without making thy adieus to me?"

"No, my lady," Pearl murmured, stricken. "I had not intended to leave so—if my lady doth not wish it of me to leave—"

The Lady Quartz laughed, suddenly gentle, as though she had expected a foolish reply such as this. "My Pearl," said she, raising her soft hand, "my own and fairest, and truest of my followers; thou wilt know anon what I wish of thee."

And the Lady Quartz's hand caressed Pearl's face, and the path her fingertips traced across Pearl's skin above the metal cheek-piece was alive as fire.

"Sheathe thy sword, good my knight. No more need for tribute."

The metal swish and thunk of the sword seating home into its sheath sounded like the homecoming of two lovers made for one another.

"Now, I would have thee shed thy helmet."

Pearl bent her head to lift the heavy burgonet from her brow.

"And," the Lady Quartz said, her voice soft as winter sun, "I would have thee kneel at my feet."

The helmet fell from Pearl's hands and clashed on the stone floor. The Lady Quartz had extended her hand, and the great fingers, strong as oak yet yielding now and soft as willow catkins, were opened in a gesture desirous of intimacy. Her skirts fell about her feet in a tumble of silk and velvet as she leaned forward. Pearl, hesitant, unbelieving, took her lady's hand, and sank to her knees.

There was no place in heaven or earth that Pearl was as pure, and true, and strong in her devotion, as she was at the feet of the Lady Quartz. Though it were not the first time the Lady had made such a request, and certainly not the first time Pearl had knelt before her in chivalrous spirit, there was a difference between homage paid as a matter of course and the request her liege had just made. The Lady's eyes were soft and liquid and smiling to see Pearl knelt before her. A trembling threatened to take Pearl, and she straightened her back in response, keeping her eyes cast obediently downward. She would not repay her lady's faith with anything less than perfect humility.

"Thou'rt indeed a worthy companion to have," said the Lady. "My side would be colder without thy presence, my Pearl. Be it thy staunch sword at my back in battle, or thy sage counsel at my elbow in diplomacy and matters of governance alike…"

The Lady Quartz clasped Pearl's hand to her bosom and paused, gazing at her face. "… or thy sweet self, here before me in the garb of thy toil, but kneeling still."

"I—I thank you, Highness," Pearl said. Her abashment made her gratitude stiff and formal. The warmth of the Lady's breast through her surcoat was filling her fingers with tingling blood, having been out so long in the cold. "My liege knows well that her good name of me means more than many other things."

"Speak not to me as though I were thy regiment-captain," said she. "We two are closer than that; thou may'st call me 'thee,' if it be thy wish, though it sticks somewhat in thy proper throat, I know."

"An it please thee, my lady…" The familiarity did stick in Pearl's throat. She swallowed down a lump and glanced upward to ascertain her forwardness was not unwelcome after all. She was caught full in the face by the Lady Quartz's eyes, that held her and searched her, with the knowledge born of years uncounted spent together in company.

The knight and the lady looked long into one another's eyes.

Finally, her slight smile gone, full serious and tender in her speaking, the Lady Quartz spoke. "Thou art the jewel of my warriors, and the morning star of my life."

"No, my lady—thou—thou art far more—my steadfast oak, my sun, my battle standard—"

The Lady laid her finger across Pearl's lips. "Silence. Though I cry thee gramercy for the compliment, I would fain hear mine own thoughts on thee, than thy words clamoring to praise my name." Her dark eyes sparkled anew. "Hast thou not writ songs enough in my praise, and tales too?"

"Enough in thy praise? Never, my lady." Pearl's face glowed hot as she spoke, in the knowledge that the dark eyes contained no small portion of mockery; yet she would rather have written thrice the amount, were it all in the Lady Quartz's name, and all to see her smile as she smiled now.

"Grant me then this small token," the Lady Quartz replied. "As thou speak'st of me, in equal measure shall I speak of thee. The tale of Pearl, paragon of the House of Crystal, noble banneret to the Lady of the Rose Kirtle, is not one to be missed by those who love the brave."

Pearl nodded smiling, almost laughing aloud at the thought of tales about her being traded across a roaring fire in time of peace. How strange to think of her deeds surviving herself. How sweet it was to imagine the time she would be with her Lady, together after the war, to shed the hauberk and the heavy plate-armour and take up the plow and the needle, and to eat wood-cherries and listen together to the twitter of birds for half-an-hour in the rising sun.

"One more boon will I ask of thee tonight," said the Lady Quartz. Her voice of a sudden was low and intimate, and passing hesitant in her intimacy. But when had the Lady ever denied herself anything she desired?

"Certes, my lady," Pearl said, searching her face for a hint of her thoughts. "An it be for thee, gladly I will do anything thou wilt."

Said the Lady Quartz: "I desire—that thou wilt call me Rose."

Bending her head Pearl pressed her mouth to the ring on the Lady Quartz's third finger. She felt her soul overwhelmed. Her lips trembled against the cool stone. The unfolded petals of the carven seal seemed to return her kiss, blossoming and warming from moment to moment, welcoming her touch. Teardrops fell silently to run off the Lady's hand and drip from her fingertips.

"Say thou wilt, my Pearl. For just as thou art mine, thy body and thy spirit under my command, I am thine. It is not meet, methinks, for a general and her right hand to keep any thought from one another." Though the Lady Quartz spoke lightly, her fingers were trembling too under Pearl's lips, and her other hand cradled Pearl's head as though she would rather hold her closer.

"For thee, my la—Rose," Pearl immediately stammered in reply. A great, warm, quavering light seemed to pass through her. She clutched the Lady Quartz's hand—Rose's hand in both of hers and pressed it to her heart, the flower-carven seal of the ring a lump against her palm. At every place that Rose's hands touched her, embers glowed, impossible to quench. She felt a wild shout of bliss rising in her throat, choking out aught else she might have said.

"Speak aloud my name again," Rose said softly. She lifted Pearl's face to hers, so that Pearl gazed up into her luminescent eyes, her slightly flushed countenance, the rose-colored peak of wet skin just inside her blushing parted lips. "It sounds well in thy mouth."

Pearl could hardly speak at all. She took a shuddering breath, her whole self transfixed by the dark radiance of the Lady Quartz's eyes, the inmost fastness of her soul shaken to the stones, and gasped, "Rose—Rose—my lady Rose—doth it please thee, Rose, Rose, Rose—"

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please suffer with me at my [Pearlrose](http://killmewithlesbians.tumblr.com/tagged/pearlrose) tag.


End file.
